I’m a sheep. Apparently.

I’m a sheep because I wear a face mask.

I’ve worn a face mask since I started venturing out to the shops again when they began to reopen. At that time, they weren’t mandatory here in Wales, but this weekend, they were made compulsory.

Of course, that meant an influx of people on social media criticizing others for wearing a mask.

If you wear a mask, you are a sheep. You are blind. You are one of Boris Johnson's followers. You are a Brexiteer. You are stupid. You are uneducated. Click To Tweet

That’s just a few of the comments I have heard about people who wear masks.

In most situations, I am more than happy to respect someone else’s opinions and beliefs. I am going to admit that I do think ‘knob’ if someone tells me COVID isn’t real/is caused by 5G/is because Bill Gates wants to put microchips in us/the governments of the world have concocted some plan for some bizarre reason, but if that’s your jam, whatever. You are entitled to your beliefs.

My issue is when people start to call those of us who comply with the law, in an attempt to prevent this whole shitshow from getting any worse, sheep. Or even worse, thick. I am not thick, and nor is anyone for following the law and doing what they believe is the right thing.

Do masks work? I have no idea. I am not a scientist. I know that if it makes some people feel safer, or if there is even a 0.0001% chance it does help prevent the spread, I am happy to put up with them for the short time I am in a shop. It’s not curtailing my freedom in any way, shape or form. No one is stopping me from going to a shop. They are just asking me to wear a thin layer of fabric for the time I am in there. No big deal whatsoever. I appreciate that some people can’t, for whatever medical or mental health reason, and that’s fine. The vast majority of us can wear them though, and we should.

These conspiracy theorists who claim it is government control – well, of course it is. The whole idea of a government is to maintain some sort of control in society. Otherwise, well, what on earth would we end up with? We have to have laws and guidelines and rules in a civilized society to keep it from being complete chaos. I mean, we all read Lord of the Flies at secondary school, right? Is that what we want? We don’t all agree with all the laws. There’s a fair few I would like to break sometimes, but I don’t, because they are there to protect people and to keep society going. Masks now are becoming part of that. I don’t love wearing masks – I have a rather lovely collection of lipsticks going unused now – but tough, I have to.

Until told otherwise, I'll be wearing my mask. If that makes me a sheep, well, BAAAAAA. Click To Tweet

I also find it a little contradictory of those who say it is just a government control mechanism. The same people are using their smartphones, using social media. Do they think they’re not being controlled through that? They also call people sheep, but there they are, following all the trends, posting on Facebook, doing plenty of sheepy things.